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- Born 1931 Salt Lake City, Utah
- Baptized as a child; Aaronic Priesthood as a youth; Melchizedek Priesthood as a young man
- Mission to England 1950-1952
- Married Ann Aylett 1955, Logan Utah Temple; six children
- Bishop, Stake High Councilor, Counselor to Stake President,
Stake President
- Second Quorum of the Seventy 1998-2001
- Released from Second Quorum of the Seventy Oct. 2001
This biographical sketch is adapted from the "News
of the Church: Elder Ray H. Wood of the Seventy" in the Ensign for
May 1998.
Hoping to bring their family closer together and
closer to the Lord, Ray H. and Ann Aylett Wood moved in 1978 to San Juan
Bautista, a small town of 1,100 in central California. They left behind
an affluent neighborhood in Saratoga, bought a farm, put in an orchard,
and took care of 280 rabbits, 5 pigs, 3 cows, 100 chickens, 3 ducks, a
dog, and a cat. “The kids used to get up at 4:30 or 5:00 in the morning
and go out and do their chores. Then they’d trot off to seminary and then
go to school,” recalls Elder Wood. Two of their six children still credit
this move with helping them recommit to the gospel.
When Ray and Ann were married in the Logan Temple
on 8 August 1955, they promised to serve the Lord, stay active in the Church,
and strive to raise an eternal family. He says that Ann has been his great
support in life and in his callings as bishop,
bishop’s counselor, stake president’s counselor, and stake high councilor.
When his call to the Second Quorum of the Seventy came, he was serving
as stake president in the Salt Lake Eagle Gate Stake.
Born on 11 July 1931 in Salt Lake City to Ray G.
and Mary Hunter Wood, Brother Wood served a mission to England in 1950-52.
Upon his return, he earned a bachelor’s and a Juris Doctor degree from
the University of Utah before working for a
local accounting firm in Salt Lake. In 1958 he entered the U.S. Air
Force and served three years as an officer in the judge advocate, stationed
in Spokane, Washington, and Ogden, Utah. He then returned to Salt Lake
for two years to work for Peat Marwick Mitchell; was transferred to Denver,
Colorado, for two years; and then went to San Jose, California, where he
stayed until retiring as partner of the tax department in 1982. He returned
to Salt Lake City to become director of tax administration for the Church
until retiring in 1997. He also served for 14 years on the tax review commission
for the state of Utah.
Elder Wood is grateful for the guiding influence
of the Lord in his family’s life and is humbled by this new calling: “The
Lord has blessed us; we’re now looking forward to a great period of service.”
On October 6, 2001, a grateful Church, assembled in the 171st Semi-annual General Conference, gave him a vote of appreciation as he was released with honor from the Second Quorum of the Seventy.
Bibliography
"News of the Church: Elder Ray H. Wood...," Ensign, May 1998 (principal source)
Shaun D. Stahle, "Encouraging advice prophetic for couple embarking on future," Church News Archives, July 11, 1998
“The Sustaining of Church Officers,” Ensign, Nov. 2001, p.21
2005 Church Almanac, p.92
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